Nicaragua - San Juan Del Sur

On the way to San Juan Del Sur we saw the Nicaraguan equivalent of mass transit. I just had to take a picture of 12 people AND a motorcycle in the back of a pickup truck.

We also stopped at a wind farm. It was amazing to pass an ox pulling a cart and then see a wind farm in the background. Talk about a contrast. But as an environmental engineer I was glad to see this cleaner form of energy being used.

San Juan Del Sur is about as touristy a town as Nicaragua gets (which is not very touristy). There are several restaurants on the water but it really didn’t seem to matter which one you picked since they all had the same food. I was totally bored and over the food in Nicaragua at this point. That was quite a disappointment since food is usually a fun part of any vacation.

There’s was new Jesus statue that was just built so we took a short hike to it so we could tell everyone we found Jesus on our vacation. We also did the typical zip lining and rode ATV’s to the beaches.

The highlight came when I found this holistic place and an American guy who said his wife did massages. I decided a massage would be a great idea but I was fresh off the beach and wanted to go home and shower first. So we set an appointment for about 6 pm. I cleaned up and was looking forward to my relaxing massage. When I arrived the quite place had been transformed into a loud dance club. The American guy said he had forgotten when he made my appointment that the back of the building is used as a dance club on Saturday nights. I decided to get the massage anyway. I expected his wife to be some hippie looking American too but she was a very big and very un-hippie looking Nicaraguan who didn’t speak English. So while I got my massage music was blaring just a few feet away. Somehow it was still a bit relaxing and a fun experience. My very first (and hopefully last) disco massage! Now there is something for the bucket list.

Next we head to our final Nicaraguan stop at Ometepe Island which was the highlight of the vacation.

Cat “Where’s a McDonalds?” Cathy

Threat to the Third World

My boyfriend treats me to only the best the third world has to offer and our latest adventure vacation to Nicaragua was the most exciting and adventurous vacation to date! If you grew up in the 80’s like me the only thing you associate with Nicaragua is a long civil war with Contras and Sandinistas. So I was originally shocked when my boyfriend suggested this country as a place to vacation. But in time I realized that it would be a big adventure and was relatively safe these days.

I got off the airport in Managua to be greeted by a heat sensing camera and people wearing surgical face masks. It's important to note here that I have a bit of a sinus problem. I’m not sure why and I just call it ‘part of my charm’. But in a third world country so worried about swine flu that they are using a heat camera my little annoyance almost turned into a vacation stopper!

I sniffled (something I’m known to do) as the customs agent was looking at my passport. Apparently this is a good sign of swine flu so I was quickly escorted to a back room by a ‘doctor’ for probing and other scientific experimentation. This was a bit scary since I was in a foreign land and no hablo español. Somehow we managed to decipher that they thought I was sick and wanted to take my temperature. So the nice ‘doctor’ put a thermometer under my armpit. I was thankful my temperature was normal and a bit grossed out when the ‘doctor’ promptly put the thermometer back in the case…no cleaning…no sanitizing.

But I was allowed to enter Nicaragua and our adventure began. Stay tuned for our next adventure – bribing the Nicaraguan cops!

Cat “a sniffle a day keeps the doctor away” Cathy